The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1887-03-10

sure that no mistake had been made,
he climbed up to the wheel-house, and
quietly asked the man at the wheel
how he had got his range. He an
swered promptly and satisfactorily.
Every thing was according to orders.
So Durham cursed his nervousness,
and walked back to the smoke-stack.
The wind had gone down with the
sum-, but a heavy sea was running, and
it was as dark as T~artarus. Durham
paced the deck for half an hour, then
went below to get his cloak. Being
chilly, he went up to the hurricane
deck and sat with his back to the
smoke-stack. Being nervous, he lit a
cigar. Being careful, he walked for
ward to see how things were moving.
He thought he heard a distant roar. He
listened, and could hear nothing. He
walked back to the smoke-stack. In
ten minutes he came forward again.
He thought he heard the oar of the
surf. He called to the man at the
wheel:
..Abbott?"
GAY, ay, SIR
elbow does she stand?"
'.Sou' by east, SIR"
That was all right; that was the
course Durham had put her on.
He went to the paddle-box and sig
nailed the engine to stop. Then he
called a man and had the lead thrown.
"Twenty-four. Plenty of water"
thought Durham, and started the en-
CINE. He then went to the captains
cabin and knocked. The captain did
not heal the first time, and he knocked
again.
"Who's thereP"
The mate"
The captain opened a port near the
head of his berth, and asked him what
the matter was. Durham reported.
The captain told him it was all right;
that it was foggy, and the roar of the
surf with such a sea on and no wind
could be heard ten miles. Durham
rather thought SO. too, and went away.
During this parley, and while the mate
stopped a few minutes to look after
things below, the ship had made more
than two miles Roadway. By the time
Durham got on deck again the roar of
the surf was frightful. He fairly
screamed at the helmsman:
"Abbott!"
cay, ay, SIR"
"How's her head?"
"Sou' by east, sir"
Amazing! Durham ran to the pad
dle-box and jerked a signal. The en-
CINE stopped. Then he rushed to the
captains door and called him out in
the. name of the gods. Both flew on
deck. There was no mistake about it;
there were the breakers not half a mile
ahead. judging by the sound. thunder
ing and boiling against the shore.
Durham had almost run the ships
head on shore, and that, too, when she
was holding precisely the same course
by compass that he had put her on fifty
times before.
The captain roared: ''What's her
courseP"
"Sou' by east, sir"
"Put her sou'west."
"Sou'west, sir" echoed the man at
the wheel, and the wheel spun round
and the chains ratified. The captain
rushed to the signal-beIl and started
the engine, and got the ship under good
steering Roadway. Scarcely had she
started on her new course when a
seraping sound was heard and felt
then, bump, bump, bump, as though
the ship had been lifted up and set
down hard three times; then a crash
and a sudden stop that Sent the cap
tain and mate on their faces, and
brought the smoke-stacks crashing
through the decks, and snapped off the
topmasts like pipe-stems. The ship
had struck a sunken rock, and began
to fill at once
Who got to shore, and how they got
to shore, matters not. 1t is the same
old story. The news spread on wings.
Men came and dragged the swollen
corpses of their friends out of the surf,
or dug them put of the sand, or identi-
fed them in the shed, or paced the
beach day after day, looking out on the
remorseless sea that sullenly chung to
its dead.
The captain and the wheelman, Alb
bott, went to Portland together-Dun-
ham they never found-and there they
talked over the strange affair and ex-
hausted all their ingenuity in vain to
account for the loss of the ship when on
the right course on a still night. When
the wrecking-tug was ready, they went
out to the wreck. 1t still hung on the
rocks. The bows were high out of wa
ter. The two men climbed up into the
wheel-house. They unscrewed the
compass-box from it's fastening and
brought it on shore. There they opened
it, and lifted up the card and needle,
and there lay the little instrument of
death-a broken knife-blade.
The handle and the rest of the blade
were in little Joey Dunham's pocket.
He had tried to pry out the glass, to see
/ what made the card swing around so
when he held his knife by it, and in do
ing so had broken the blade. He con-
cealed his mischief and stole away
Argonamt.
HOW MEN ARE JUDGED.
Means of Service Indicative of the Char
l. aHA.- ~ re- "nn ATaIro. ~. Iii: